[JoAnneM]

I think a friend of mine is stuck in Italy due to the closed airports. I wonder how long that cloud will stick around and how long that erruption will last. I also worry about the people and animals of Iceland.

[Rossoneri]

Quite a number of my friends are either stuck trying to get back to the UK, or have had holidays to the continent affected. Another friend is stuck in Poland trying to get back to Sweden.

[gwnn]

Iceland is fine, nothing is going on here in Reykjavik (where almost 66% of the country lives), it's in fact much sunnier than usual, the ashes are taken to the SE, i.e. away from Iceland and in Europe. From what I understood the ashes are emitted only for a few days at the beginning of an eruption and then the eruption can take for months or even years. The exchange students here are rather anxious because they have flights back to continental Europe typically 2 or 3 weeks from now, so it's not sure if they can take off. American flights from/to Iceland are still working from what I understood.

[Rossoneri]

gwnn, on Apr 17 2010, 05:05 PM, said:

Iceland is fine, nothing is going on here in Reykjavik (where almost 66% of the country lives), it's in fact much sunnier than usual, the ashes are taken to the SE, i.e. away from Iceland and in Europe. From what I understood the ashes are emitted only for a few days at the beginning of an eruption and then the eruption can take for months or even years. The exchange students here are rather anxious because they have flights back to continental Europe typically 2 or 3 weeks from now, so it's not sure if they can take off. American flights from/to Iceland are still working from what I understood.

Sounds expected. There were some worries of ash falling over the UK after some reports in Scotland, but so far it's been clear.

[Al_U_Card]

[gwnn]

some nice pictures
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/m...allajokull.html

[hrothgar]

What I find interesting is the duration of the last eruption from said volcano.

The last time the Eyjafjallajökull volcano went off was in December 1821. That eruption continued until June 1822.

[Phil]

I was in Montana when Mt. St. Helen's erupted in 1980.

The ash cloud blew through three days later.

[Hanoi5]

Can someone explain the lightning on top of the volcano?

[Al_U_Card]

From Spaceweather.com

It is well known that volcanoes produce lightning, but scientists aren't sure why. The underlying mechanism is likely to be some form of triboelectric charging--that is, things bumping or rubbing together (like socks rubbing on carpet) to create a build-up of static electricity. That's how it works in sand storms and even ordinary thunderstorms. In a volcano, the "rubbing things" may be bits of ash and droplets of lava, although no one is certain.

To investigate, a team of researchers from New Mexico Tech has arrived in Iceland to study the phenomenon. Photography is not their primary method, however. Cameras are limited to what they can see through the heavy clouds of ash. Radio receivers can do a better job. Lightning emits impulsive radio bursts which can be measured and counted, day or night, even through clouds of ash. "We are deploying a six-station lightning mapping array around the Eyjafjallajokull volcano," says team member Harald Edens. Their analysis of the radio "crackles" could reveal much about the inner workings of volcanic lightning.

[Rain]

Bought a full fare economy one way ticket (ughhh) last Tuesday, sin->boston routing pacific route. Being stuck in Singapore isn't a hardship, except if you have to return to work.United also lost the 1 piece of checked luggage.

Another BBOer from Singapore was stuck in London for a day.

[jjbrr]

Nonstop from Singapore to Boston? That sounds like a ridiculously long time sitting on an airplane.

[Winstonm]

I'm stuck in 1969.

[Rain]

Nah no real nonstops. Stops in Japan and Chicago.

The old ticket was for Singapore -> Frankfurt -> Boston. Oh wells...